2016 Shenandoah Valley Petit Verdot, Limited Release

There are some lovely upfront berry notes mixed in with some
darker aged fruit. With the fruit is a
touch of aged balsamic, cocoa and vanilla.
Just behind the fruit aspect is a wonderful bouquet of wild flowers that
gives a pleasant floral touch to the wine. As always with petit verdot there
are the classic earthy characters along with a touch of tobacco and suede that
mingle well with the fruits. The oak and tannins are well balanced and lend a
full rich mouth feel and allows for a nice long finish.

Vintage:

2016 started with a warm February flowing into a very warm
March. Unfortunately, April arrived with
extreme cold causing frost damage throughout the state. The rest of the Spring warmed back up to
normal conditions. Overall the summer
months were average for Virginia
without many extremes. Unfortunately,
again, the Fall showed up with two major storms (Hurricane Matthew is one) and
dropped a significant amount of water.
Some parts of the state saw record inches. The 2016 was not without its challenges;
however, with diligent work in the vineyards and picking the best harvest dates
we were able to pull in some good grapes.

Blend

100% Petit Verdot

Harvest

The Petit Verdot was harvested on 28 September at 24.0 brix,
3.71 pH and .698g/L TA

Vineyard Source:

Bent Mountain,
Virginia

Fermentation

The grapes were cold soaked for 6 days then fermented in oak
barrels for 6 days using Exotics Yeast